Buying workwear and corporate clothing online

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Posted by Tom Gilmore on 20/06/2017

Can I buy workwear online?

Yes, but it’s not easy. Buying a book or printer cartridge is straightforward as there are fewer options. For a book you just need to decide if you want hardback or paperback. Likewise for a printer cartridge you just need to know the model number of your printer. But with corporate clothing there are many additional options.

You’ll need to know what garments you want and if they’ll be suitable for your staff carrying-out their job function and are they easy to clean. You will also need to know if the garments are manufactured in colours that contrast well with your logo. And with so many options per garment it is often confusing how you add the different colours and sizes to the shopping basket. Most garments have a number of colour and size options. Take an extreme example; the Gildan t-shirt GD02, it’s manufactured in 54 colours and 8 sizes (S to 5XL) so that’s over 400 options (SKUs). You’ll also need to know how to upload your logo and in what format. And then the tricky part; the sizing and fit.

Buying for a number of staff, none of whom seem to be a standard size or shape is difficult. So that will often scare-off the corporate clothing buyer.

Then we get on to the logo. Most customers have a logo that is an essential part of the company branding. It will be displayed on their headed notepaper, business cards, premises, vans, website and promotional marketing material. So getting it right on your new workwear is super important. Ordering online is a worry that the design and colours won’t match the logo as shown in the other places mentioned above. So that is another barrier to the person tasked with procurement.

In our experience most buyers want to speak to a person to discuss the issues raised in this article. So a call to the uniform supplier will enable you to discuss these concerns and cover any problems that might not be known to the buyer such as the small tag line on your logo won’t embroider well or the ‘R’ symbol needs to be eliminated from the design. Once this is discussed a proof and mock-up will be sent to the purchaser to ensure they are happy with the finished embroidery design/size/colours before the start of production.

So with this in mind Aspect has so far resisted the urge to make the ordering process an online experience. Now this could change in time as buyers are more comfortable using online systems and the process of selecting the garments is improved but at the moment we’re happy for customers to phone us and talk through their concerns and let us suggest styles that most suit their requirements.

For expert and friendly advice call the Aspect team on 020 8991 1800 or view our clothes online here here.